National NewsChannel
National NewsChannel, almost always referred to by it's Acronym & initialism NNC, is a US cable news network founded in 1985 by WMFL Corporation. Upon it's launch, NNC was the 1st network to provide 24-hour TV news coverage & the 1st all-news TV network in the United States. While the news network has numerous affiliates, NNC primarily broadcasts from it's headquarters @ the NNC HQ in Atlanta, the WMFL Center in New York City & studios in Washington, D.C. & Los Angeles. NNC is owned by parent company WMFL Corporation. NNC is sometimes referred to as NNC/U.S. to distinguish the North American channel from it's international counterpart, NNC International. As of June 2008, NNC is available in over 95 million U.S. households. Broadcast coverage extends to over 900,000 American hotel rooms & the US broadcast is also shown in Canada. Globally, NNC programming airs through NNC International, which can be seen by viewers in over 215 countries & territories. In terms of regular viewers (Nielsen Ratings), NNC rates as the US' #1 cable news network & has the most unique viewers (Nielsen Cume Ratings) History Early history The National News Channel was launched at 6:00 PM EST on June 23rd, 1985. Since it's debut, NNC has expanded it's reach to a number of cable & satellite TV networks, several web sites, specialized closed-circuit networks (such as NNC Airport Network) & a radio network ("NNC Radio"). The network has 36 bureaus (10 domestic, 26 international), more than 900 affiliated local stations & several regional & foreign-language networks around the world. A companion network, NNC-2, was launched on January 1st, 1986 & featured a continuous 24-hour cycle of 30-minute news broadcasts Recent years NNC-HD was launched on August 20th, 2007 & was first nationally distributed by DirecTV in September of 2007 & South Florida Fantasy Cable TV on August 20th, 2007. The network has also faced an increasingly competitive media environment & since NNC's debut, more than 75 TV networks have launched with 24-hour news coverage Challenger disaster On January 28th 1986, NNC was the only TV network to have LIVE coverage of the launch & explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger. The shuttle exploded after lift-off killing 7 crew members including Christa McAuliffe, a high-school teacher from Concord, New Hampshire to be the 1st teacher in space. Then President Ronald Reagan postponed his State of the Union Address that evening. He addressed the nation from the Oval Office September 11 NNC was the 1st network to break the news of the September 11 attacks. Anchor Roland Ortega (who used to work for NNC as an anchor & reporter, before becoming President, CEO & Chairman for WMFL Corporation in 2004) was on the air to deliver the first public report of the event. He broke into a commercial at 8:49 AM ET & said: "This just in. You are looking @ obviously a very disturbing LIVE shot there. That is the World Trade Center & we have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into 1 of the towers of the World Trade Center. The NNC HQ, right now is just beginning to work on this story, obviously calling our sources & trying to figure out exactly what happened, but clearly something relatively devastating happening this morning there on the south end of the island of Manhattan. That is once again, a picture of 1 of the towers of the World Trade Center". Roland stayed on the air just after 9:00 AM ET as the 2nd plane hit the World Trade Center & reported the news that US officials determined "that this is a terrorist act". Later, NNC affiliate WMFL-TV's Anchor Chris Johnson anchored through the day & night for NNC as the attacks unfolded. Johnson then left WMFL-TV after the 9/11 attacks to become the BREAKING NEWS anchor 2008 US election Leading up to the 2008 US presidential election, NNC devoted large amounts of coverage to politics, including hosting candidate debates during the Democratic & Republican primary seasons. On June 3rd & June 5th, NNC teamed up with Saint Anselm College to sponsor the New Hampshire Republican & Democratic Debates. Later in 2007, the network hosted the 1st NNC-YouTube presidential debates, a non-traditional format where viewers were invited to pre-submit questions over the internet via the YouTube video-sharing service. In 2008, NNC partnered with The LA Tribune to host 2 primary debates leading up to it's coverage of Super Tuesday. NNC's debate & election night coverage led to it's highest ratings of the year, with January 2008 viewership averaging 1.5 million viewers, a 45% increase over the previous year. Programming Current shows Weekdays *5:00-10:00 AM: America's Morning News from New York (The network's morning news program) *10:00 AM-5:00 PM: NNC Newsroom from Atlanta (A daily look @ what's making news) *5:00-7:00 PM: The Serious Political Room from Washington, D.C. (A fast-paced look @ the day's top stories, focusing on politics, homeland security & human interest stories) *7:00-10:00 PM: NNC TONIGHT from New York (The news in a more explanatory & understanding way) *10:00-11:00 PM: "NNC News at 10:00" from Atlanta (A fast-paced, wrap-up nightly National & World News program) *11:00 PM-12:00 AM: NNC News at 11:00 from Atlanta (A fast-paced, wrap-up nightly National & World News program) *12:00-5:00 AM: NNC Overnight News from Atlanta (An overnight look @ the day's News) Weekends *5:00-10:00 AM: NNC Weekend Mornings from Atlanta (NNC's weekend morning National & World News) *10:00 AM-10:00 PM: NNC Newsroom from Atlanta (A daily look @ what's making news) *10:00-11:00 PM: "NNC News at 10:00" from Atlanta (A fast-paced, wrap-up nightly National & World News program) *11:00 PM-12:00 AM: NNC News at 11:00 from Atlanta (A fast-paced, wrap-up nightly National & World News program) *12:00-5:00 AM: NNC Overnight News from Atlanta (An overnight look @ the day's News) On-air presentation In December 2008, NNC introduced it's new graphics package, a comprehensive redesign replacing the existing style that had been used since 2003. The design replaced the scrolling ticker that had been in use since 2000. Also, since March 1st 2009, the redundant NNC-HD logo has been missing from the bottom left corner of the screen. NNC's new graphic design is similar to it's sister network, NNC International Former programs High-Def NNC HD is a 1080i HD simulcast of NNC that launched in August of 2007. All regular shows based out of NNC's New York City studios @ WMFL Center such as America's Morning News & NNC TONIGHT are in HD (as well as special events, see section below). In early September of 2007, The Serious Political Room began airing in HD, making it's entire evening & primetime lineup in HD. In mid-October of 2009, NNC Newsroom began airing in HD as well, making it's full schedule all in HD. Stylized pillarboxes (outlines of the letters "HD" in a large font, configured sideways & usually in red with a red background, but sometimes in blue with a blue background) are used for normal programs that are not available in HD, as well as remotely shot video that's only available in SD, even during shows that are in HD. Formerly during America's Morning News, NNC HD viewers saw weather forecasts in graphic form on the sides of the screen (American cities on the right & cities outside of the US on the left). This feature was removed in November 2008. NNC HD displays it's NNC HD logo (the normal NNC logo with the letters HD in a different, gray colored font next to it) on the bottom left corner of the screen. Special events All special events are aired in full HD. During primary & caucus nights, America Votes 2008 was produced in complete HD from NNC's main New York studio which was renamed the NNC Election Center. During this time, NNC-HD viewers got additional information on the side of their TV screens such as poll numbers, charts & graphs. This also happened for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the 2008 Republican National Convention, the 2008 US Presidential Debates, the 2008 US VP Debate & the 2008 Election Day coverage on November 4th, all of which were also shot in HD. The 2009 US Presidential Inauguration Day coverage on January 20th was also shot in full HD. President Barack Obama's 1st prime-time press conference on February 9th, 2009 was also aired in full HD, as well as his address to a joint session of Congress on February 24th & his 2nd prime-time press conference on March 24th & his address to a joint session of Congress on September 9th, 2009 Coverage Initial carriage of NNC-HD on cable & satellite systems was limited. DirecTV & South Florida Fantasy Cable TV was the 2 1st providers to carry it, adding it in mid-September of 2007. By June of 2008, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, COX Communications, AT&T U-verse, Rogers Cable in Canada, Midcontinent Communications, Bright House Networks & Dish Network launched carriage of NNC-HD. Verizon is currently in the process of adding NNC-HD to it's FiOS service on a market by market basis Specialized channels Television * NNC Airport Network * NNC Checkout Channel * NNC en Español * NNC-2 * NNC International * NNC Business * NNC World Business * NNC Newsworld * NNC-4 Radio * NNC Radio (a.k.a "NNC Radio 1") * NNC Radio 2 * NNC Radio Newsworld (a.k.a "NNC Radio 3") * NNC Radio 4 LIVE * NNC Radio 4 LIVE Sports Extra Former channels * NNC-FN (financial network that was closed in January 2005) * National SportsChannel (also known as NSC), the network's all-sports channel, which couldn't get a rating & was closed in 2002 Experiments NNC launched 2 specialty news channels for the American market which would later close amid competitive pressure: National SportsChannel shut down in 2002 & NNC-FN shut down after 10 years on the air in January 2005. Bureaus : ''NOTE: Boldface indicates that they are NNC's original bureaus, meaning they have been in operation since the network's founding'' United States Popular culture * NNC's most famous station ID is a 5-second musical jingle with James Earl Jones' simple but classic line, "This is NNC" Jones' voice can still be heard today in updated station ID's. The line has also been referenced in other programming, including The Simpsons & Will & Grace, where Jones himself says that it was his last good piece of work. The line was also referred as a sub-parody in the 2002 film Kung Pow! Enter the Fist, during the ending of another sub-parody based on a scene from Disney's The Lion King, where Jones himself is noted have voiced 1 of the main characters